In a dual MOSFET AC dimmer, given the right firmware and a few other design decisions, it is possible to switch both on the upwards and downwards side of the AC waveform. This enables MOSFET AC dimmers to operate both in reverse phase and forward phase control dimming, or more descriptively, leading edge and trailing edge dimming. Designs that use a TRIAC for the switching specifically cannot switch on both sides of the waveform. So such designs are stuck to leading edge dimming only.
Not all MOSFET based AC dimmers are capable of both types of AC dimming. Other elements, which for HA style dimmers would usually be implemented in firmware, are required. But the advantage is that it is possible to change the switching type based on the load type. In general, leading edge dimming is easy to implement and it works well enough for purely resistive loads such as incandescent and halogen bulbs. But it performs poorly with LED loads as those are capacitive. Leading edge dimming usually leads to poor control of a capacitive load so LED bulbs will be unstable at low intensity values and the dimming range might be narrowed again especially towards the lower intensities. Trailing edge dimming performs better for most LED loads.
Project Update: The firmware team released the latest beta a week or so ago and the beta team has been working hard to address any outstanding issues, which seem to be minimal and most will be released in the next firmware update (scheduled to be released tomorrow Jan. 28th).
The one issue thatās still outstanding that is really frustrating is Hue integration. As mentioned earlier, it is possible to bind the Hue bulb with the switch, but it requires a third party hub (ie: ST, Hubitat, Home Assistant, etc). Weāre trying to make this as user friendly as possible and get the switch to pair directly to the Hue bridge and/or take it one step further and have the bulb/switch bind w/out a hub as referenced here: How to install a Philips Hue dimmer switch | Philips Hue US (Step 4 - Without a Hue Bridge), but itās proving to be a challenge as Hue is not helping at all (to be expected, but still). The team has a request out to the ZigBee Alliance (now CSA) but itās doubtful anything will come to fruition at this point. Weāre still trying outside of Hue and CSA as Iām determined to get this switch in as many hands as possible.
Perfect!
Yeah
Lol, unintentional, but Iāll take it haha!
Wait until you see the Blue Series videoā¦ the creative team really brought their A-Game! Glad we could provide ā I didnāt realize there was this much love for ZigBee, but Iām grateful lol!
Just got a still image of the opening sequence where a blue light is shining down on the switches essentially giving them power:
Completely agree ā itās also amazing how technology has advanced so much in the last few years in regards to speed. Sometimes I wonder if people are just holding onto the past when they nitpick milliseconds. I remember having the Wink Relay (RIP) and the Tapt switches that would sometimes take 10+ seconds to turn on (or sometimes just wouldnāt turn on). Now, even on cloud based hubs, Iām seeing lightning quick speeds with scene control and Associations. I really canāt tell the difference.
It really has surprised me too if Iām being honest. I knew ZigBee was popular and Iāve had that data referenced in the āOut of Stockā thread that showed ZigBee to be 5x that of Z-Wave in market-size for years now (fun fact, back in like 2018 or so, we were going to form a separate brand called, āZignatiā ā I even have a polo that was made lol) but it just didnāt feel like that was the case when talking in other forums, analyzing the competition, etc.
It really seemed like ZigBee was more of a Hue/Cree thing and while theyāre definitely huge, it wasnāt until Amazon announced ZigBee radios in their Alexaās that it clicked for me that Z-Wave just wasnāt going to go mainstream unless they could land something equally as big (which they havenāt). Then the Matter announcement completely put the nail in the coffin.
I think @kreene1987 is right in that ZigBee will be mainstream and focus their efforts there, while Z-Wave continues to improve their security options as thatās a very niche and very profitable market.
Time will tell!
Yes, it will support inductive loads. I have it on my ceiling fan right now. I donāt have the official specs (just asked) yet, but it will work to turn exhaust fans as well as ceiling fans on/off. It cannot be used to change fan speeds, however.
Anecdotally speaking, the dim smoothness on these things are night and day compared to the Red Series. I canāt remember if I mentioned it here or in the beta thread, but I live in a rental house and the builders are notorious for using the cheapest materials, which include the bulbs. The Red Series could not dim them other than maybe a 5% differential and they came on at like 75% brightness (there was no low dimming at all), so I just converted them to an on/off. Quite frankly, Iām not even sure that the bulbs are dimmable as they were just on dumb on/off switches.
Anyway, I put the Blue Series switch on them and the dimming is crazy smooth and also the bulbs got down to a very low level. A very weird thing happened where one of the four bulbs stayed on at the lowest level whereas the other 3 turned off, but I donāt think thatās a switch issue ā no clue what is going on there.
Iāll try to take a video and post it, but Iām very impressed with the dimming capabilities and the lack of, āchoppinessā.
Exciting!
Yeah, this is a damned if you do, damned if you donāt situation for us for sure.
Since the base faceplates are so inexpensive, we just put it in there to please the, ādamned if you donātā crowd. But I hear you, I prefer the Lutron Claro faceplates
I actually didnāt know this could be done ā thanks @Bry!
Looks to be about 3/16" (or for my Canadian friends = 4.76mm) ā official measurements will be completed once UL gives the design approval. Last time during testing of our Red Series, UL asked for the depth to be larger so we had to retract our x% slimmer claim vs Gen 1.
Thanks chack and @kreene1987, I ended going with the sonoff one since it is so cheap and supports both zha and zigbee2mqtt. which is the route I am going to be going once Inovelli starts selling their switches.
Looks like I am going to end up having both zwave and zigbee switches, but at least it will look the same.
@Eric_Inovelli I can not wait for the Zigbee switch to be released. The one question I have and please forgive me if it been answer above: Will your zigbee switch be matter and thread compliant?
Iāve been searching for quality switches/dimmers/fan control for months, and just recently found your company (probably because the lack of stock on amazon which I understand now). But after a bunch of forum reading of comments (which I love how active and responsive you are) Iāve discovered your new Blue line plans for zigbee. I currently run both with Home Assistant, but have really been disappointed in all the other products Iāve tried, which is by no means all of them.
But what Iād really like to add, is I wish it had been easier to see and find this information. Your entire home page should be quick links and announcements of the new Zigbee Blue line. Iāve been trying to follow inventory changes for a while now with no luck because I hadnāt read all these comments in the forums. If I had found a bit of stock and then realized that Zigbee was coming I would have been pretty frustrated. I hope you can update your home page to be clear on your upcoming line, Iāll gladly wait for what looks to be like a fantastic product, from a company who communicates and is actively supporting home assistant. Iām glad I didnāt give up and just buy some of the other products that āworkā but donāt meet all my needs.
I hope you send out an announcement if you open a pre-order as well. And I hope a zigbee blue 5-button switch is coming as well!
I hope you send out an announcement if you open a pre-order as well. And I hope a zigbee blue 5-button switch is coming as well!
Yes to pre-order announcement and yes to a scene controller. I have a few blank wall switches that could really use a scene controller thatās not ugly.
I think the worst part of this open method of product development is the anticipation. It is so hard to wait, and on top of that I am in Canada, so I have to wait for them to make their way up here.
Been following along for a couple months now but just made an account to comment. Great news about the pre-order being a āthing.ā I am currently running Home Assistant on a Pi4. I have a hodge-podge of wifi outlets, an old smartlinc hub and a couple of switches that work with it and decently with Home Assistant.
But, I jumped on the Home Assistant Yellow crowd funding so will have one of those in a month or 2. I also have a bunch of different light switches and outlet covers of varying styles as weāve remodeled portions of our home over the years. I want to go all in on replacing everything with a uniform look. Iāll have a zigbee radio on the Yellow, so that lead me here. Iām down for a preorder of 30 of the new Blue switches to cover my whole set up. Looking forward to when that goes live so I can place the order. Itās been fun to catch up on this thread and follow along.
Yeah! I just got the official specs and looks like it will be only 1A rated for ceiling fans. So, likely weāll be steering people to the dedicated fan switch as it would offer speed levels too (this one is only on/off).
Great question ā and apologies if I screw this up as I still am hazy on the difference between Thread/Matter. My understanding is that ZigBee/Thread are different protocols that can both be converted to Matter. I donāt have the technical background to give an accurate answer though lol.
This switch (ZigBee) will have the ability to convert to Matter, but I donāt think it will have the ability to convert to Thread. We are exploring a dedicated Thread switch, but to be frank, itās been very difficult to work with Apple (the reason we were exploring Thread) so itās been on the backburner while we focus on ZigBee.
Yeah great feedback, Iāve been meaning to put this up on the site. I guess Iāve just been gun-shy based on the 5-Button pre-order debacle. But, I think itās pretty safe to say this will be launching in the next couple months. Iām also waiting on the hype video to be completed (hopefully any day).
The other reason weāve been hesitant is there is only 4 of us here now and whenever we put something up on the site, we get flooded with customer service tickets inquiring about the product (which is good, donāt get me wrong, but it can be overwhelming).
Iāll aim for next week to get this up and on the site as we should definitely start turning on the marketing!
The way I have come to understand this is thread and zigbee are like Wi-Fi they are the structure that is developed to pass information. Matter is like HTML it is the ālanguageā that is passed.
Think of it like a radio station, the transmitter and the radio in your car are like thread. Matter is the language the DJ is speaking.
I would be careful in your wording here. I just checked the github repository for matter, I didnāt see zigbee listed. Both Zigbee and Thread use an 802.15.4 radio, so as long as there is enough memory, (for OTA, two times the size of the firmware) the Zigbee radio can be updated to Thread. From what my understanding is, it is this the makes or breaks its compliance.
Also, sorry for two posts for the same quote, I just thought it would be too confusing if I put them in one.
Going to agree with jrperryās understanding of Thread and Matter. Based on this white paper, Iām assuming that if the hardware can be OTA updated it would be between Zigbee and Thread, and support for Matter would come through the Thread version?
